How this came to be, I can't explain exactly. I thinned my collection a while back but getting rid of all my bulldogs was not something I set out to do. It just happened. There was I time when it was my favorite shape. I used to argue and argue with Rusty over this shape.

I need to rectify this problem. Ropp to the rescue. Or Kaywoodie. Or Blakemar.

"Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven" - Jesus

My very first Peterson was a Bulldog and it was my first Bulldog. Rusty even agreed that it was a Bulldog. My 2nd was a bent Bulldog that I got from JMG. Rusty said it had a resemblance to a Bulldog but...

I bought an estate Comoy Bulldog about a year ago but it had a bad stem and was not as represented and the seller took it back.

So 2 (Two) is what I have in the way of Bulldogs. I need more...yes "need " is the correct word

I didn't think it was a favorite shape, but I've managed to put a bunch of them in my collection. In the last year or two it also became my most-smoked shape.

The bulldog is not my most favorite shape (Lovat for the win!), but I think it's probably the most commonly produced shape next to the billiard. Most little kids today stare at me and ask what I'm doing, but their elders would probably draw a picture of a bulldog if someone asked them to draw what they thought of when they thought of a pipe. I sure seem to have a few of them as a result. And not owning one seems like it would have to be a conscious decision, seeing as how so darned many have been made.

I currently have one, most treasured Peterson Bulldog which was gifted by a member here.
It is probably one of the classiest pipes I own as well.

Long ago I thought I had a few bulldogs, but Rusty informed me that those were Rhodesians.
One memorable Rhodesian I had from the near beginning was a basket Hardcastle Sandhewn 1/4 bent with a saddle bit, which I purchased from Benederet's on Post St in San Francisco. There was another Bulldog, a London made Benederet shop stamp I'd bought at---you guessed it--- Benederet's.
It was smooth and straight beautiful blonde that contrasted nicely with the sand blasted black Hardcastle and together were my most smoked briars until my Grad assistant job came along and I could afford to add a brace of name brand Savinellis (neither one a Bulldog) to my collection. The Benederet Bulldog finally succumbed when I was tapping out against a tree . I passed the Hardcastle along as it didn't seem right for it to be without it's long time companion, Benederet.
Needless to say I learned my lesson about not tapping out against a tree (after 30 years!)

I had a cousin, Junior, who was killed long ago during night carrier quals as a Marine Aviator. He was a graduate of USC. His parents left his room as he had left it and I remember being allowed to play in there with my other cousins.
It was a wonderful room---prints of poker playing dogs, Tiffany lamp, and old banjo hanging on the wall, and the young man's bulldog in one of those racks, with a built in glass tobacco jar, sitting on his roll top desk exactly how he left it. IIRC that was the first time I'd ever seen a Bulldog pipe close up---it must have made quite an impression on me (this would have been in the 1950s, btw)

I also had one of the first Ropps (I like Ropps) with a horn stem when Smoking Pipes.com started carrying them---an excellent smoking pipe in every way, in my estimation, which I passed on to one of the other members here.

One of my very best friends, Tony, whom I grew up with (and first journeyed to Benederet's with) smoked MacBarens Plum Cake in a 1/4 bent bulldog. They were near inseparable all through college.

Those are my Bulldog stories. You're welcome to them.

"What doesn't kill you, gives you a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms and a really dark sense of humor."